Sydnee Ruth Neiman

Sydnee Ruth Neiman, 9, dropped her piggy bank in a credit union parking lot in West Richland, Wash., on Dec. 8, 2011. Her mother thought she was already in her seat in the Cadillac Escalade and backed over her.

Sydnee Ruth Neiman, 9, dropped her piggy bank in a credit union...

Sydnee Neiman deposited $5 into her bank account and walked out to the credit union parking lot in West Richland, Wash., clutching her piggy bank.

Sydnee, a 9-year-old Girl Scout who liked Justin Bieber and sewing with her grandmother, always was doing several things at once, her mother said. On Dec. 8, 2011, she headed toward the family's Cadillac

Judy knew instantly what she had done, before she saw Sydnee and the piggy bank on the ground.

Judy and her husband, Paul, had adopted Sydnee when she was a toddler, after the state took Sydnee away from her drug-addicted mother. A petite fourth-grader, Sydnee had a rare heart condition. She'd survived four heart surgeries. "A fighter," Judy called her.

But the Cadillac did irreparable damage.

"If I had a camera in there, I know I wouldn't have hit her," Judy said. "I never really thought about getting one installed. You never think about it until after the fact."